Nexus One launched into space on CubeSat, becomes first PhoneSat in orbit (video)

Google's Nexus One has dreamt of space travel for a while now, but on Monday it was finally launched into orbit aboard a CubeSat dubbed STRaND-1, which was developed by Surrey Satellite Technology and the University of Surrey's Surrey Space Centre. STRaND-1 now holds the honor of being the first PhoneSat and UK CubeSat that has made it into orbit. Alongside the HTC-made handset are an altitude and orbit control system, two propulsion setups and a Linux-based computer with a "high-speed" processor. After the Tux-friendly rig conducts a battery of tests, it'll relinquish control of much of the satellite's functions to the smartphone, which still runs Android.

Not only will the mission test how commercial, off-the-shelf tech can survive in the vacuum and conduct experiments, but it'll squeeze in some fun courtesy of apps developed by winners of a competition held last year. An app called 360 will let folks back on terra firma request their own snapshots of earth taken with the phone's shooter and pin them to a map. Ridley Scott might like to say no one can hear you scream in space, but another application loaded onto the device will put that to the test by playing user-submitted shrieks and recording them with the handset's microphone as they playback. Hit the break for more details and a brief video overview of the satellite, or jab the more coverage links to partake in the app shenanigans.